The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-12-28
A HIGH PRICED VOLUME.

How Edwin Forrest Secured Copy OF
the 1898 Edition of Shakespeare.
ga notice which l saw the other day,
that Messrs. Funk e. Wagnalls are about
publishing fac sirnile edition of the 1923
folio edition of Shakespeare, reminds me
of how Edwin Forrest bought his 1923
copy Of Shakespeare, y said Philadelphia
gentleman at the Hoffman house one
evening. 81 was connected with the auc-
ton house of M. Thomas 81 Sons, in Phil
adelphia, for number Of years, and For
rest used to come In the store q great deal
and patronize the book sales He seldom
did any bidding himself, but used to tell
Mr.. Jennings, of the firm, and q life long
friend of the actor's, to buy certain books
for him. He never left any limit to his
bids but always said simply buy them. ;
If the auctioneer thought book was
bringing much more than its value, and
in Mr. Forests interests let 1t go, the big
actor would storm and rave the next time
he came In, and declare that he would
never buy another book In the place IL his
orders were not carried out to the letter.
"But what ! started to tell you was
about the famous old 1923 edition of
Shakespeare. You know there are only
few copies in the world, and they are
of great value, OF course Well, we had
copy for sale one day, and it was so well
advertised, not only in this country, but
elsewhere that agents from libraries in
England and other countries crossed the
ocean to buy 1t. The day before the sale
Forrest walked into the store and said to
Mr.. Jennings:
g 4 want TINT Shakespeare. Buy IT.
How high will you gor asked Mr..
Jennings.
q How highS don't know and don't
care. Buy it. l want it.
"Then Forrest stalked out without say
ing another word. The next day, when
the big folio was put up for sale, there
was some lively bidding The starting
price was 800 by an Englishman, and 1t
was not long before IL reached $700.
g Seven hundred and fifty dollarsr at
started the book at 800.
And 800 I have already said the
auetioneer, with smile.
"'Who did you get the bid fromp I
don't see any one else bidding now, said
the Englishman.
GA gentleman left the bid with me-
"tWho was it?'
"'Ned Forrest
"'That settles it, said the bidder. III
Forrest wants that book there Is no use
bidding against him. He'd give $4,000
for it rather than not get 1t. I'm through
bidding
''The auctioneer tried to get another
bid, but without success, and at last his
hammer fell and the Shakespeare belonged
to Forrest. Tiie actor was delighted the
next day with his prize. He took 1t to
his mansion on North Broad street and
had glasscase made for 1t. 1t was placed
in this case open ut the title page and no
one was allowed to touch 1t. Forrest had
fac-simile copy which he read. He gave
orders that II ever his house should get
on fire the 1923 Shakespeare was TO be
the first thing saved. He had magnifl-
cent Shakespearean library, but the big
folio he considered was worth more than
oil the rest put together. A curious
thing happened after Forrest died. A
defective fiue caused a little fire in his
library, and about the only thing Of value
that was burned was that very 1923 edi-
ton that he priced SO highly. New
York Evening Sun.